Increased Energy Supply Investment Needed
The International Energy Agency (IEA), an energy watchdog organization that provides policy advice to its 26 member countries states, has called for greater investment and liberalized markets as part of a strategy to achieve "greater security, more environmental protection and improved economic efficiency."

The IEA's World Energy Outlook 2006 (WEO-2006) "identifies under-investment in new energy supply as a real risk" The document calls for a cumulative global "investment in energy-supply infrastructure of over $20 trillion in real terms over 2005-2030" with about half of the investment needed in developing countries. The WEO also notes that the "apparent surge in oil and gas investment in recent years" is largely "illusory" in real terms because "Drilling, material and personnel costs in the industry have soared...."

Nuclear power plays an important role in WEO-2006. The report "demonstrates demonstrates that nuclear power could make a major contribution to reducing dependence on imported gas and curbing CO2 emissions in a cost-effective way" but only if "the governments of countries where nuclear power is accepted play a stronger role in facilitating private investment, especially in liberalised markets."

Overall, the IEA report makes clear that liberalized markets and pro-investment government policies are crucial to achieving environmentally and economically sound energy security.